CV of H.E. Jim McLay

H.E Jim McLay presents his credentials to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon

Honourable Jim McLay, CNZM, QSO

Jim McLay is the New Zealand Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. He took up his appointment in June 2009.

Jim McLay practised as a barrister before being elected as a Member of the New Zealand Parliament in 1975. Until his retirement from politics in 1987 he held, at various times, the positions of Deputy Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Attorney General and Minister of Justice. He received the Queen’s Service Order (QSO) for public services (1987) and was made a Companion of the Order of New Zealand (CNZM) for services to conservation (2003).

From 1993 to 2003, Jim McLay was New Zealand Commissioner on the International Whaling Commission; serving three years as Chair of its Finance and Administration Committee (responsible for budget and related issues) and a member of its Advisory Committee (which advises the Commission’s Chair and Secretary). He was formerly a member of the Humane Society of United States’ International Council of Advisers. He has chaired New Zealand government public policy reviews of wholesale electricity markets, defence funding and financial management, and reform of road funding and management; and also participated in two reviews of New Zealand’s accident compensation scheme.

He was founder Chair of the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development (and, subsequently, its Patron), Honorary New Zealand Chair of the Trans Tasman Business Circle and a New Zealand delegate to the Australian New Zealand Leadership Forum, focussed on the development of a Single Economic Market (SEM) between two countries (and was, for several years, a member of the Forum’s New Zealand Steering Committee). From 1998 to 2009, he was Convenor/Chair of the Project Manukau Audit Group, responsible for the environmental and resource management audit of Auckland’s Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Prior to his move to New York, Jim McLay was Executive Chair of Macquarie Group Holdings New Zealand Limited (subsidiary of Macquarie Group, Australia), Chair of Goodman (NZ) Limited (manager of the publicly-listed Goodman Property Trust), Chair of publicly-listed MetLifecare Limited and Just Water International Limited; and was previously a director of several other companies (including Motor Race New Zealand Limited, Neuren Limited and Evergreen Forests Limited) and Chairman of Pharmacybrands Limited.